Infant car seats are required by law to restrain infants when traveling in moving vehicles. Typically, infant car seats double as an infant carrier and car seat that straps or latches into the rear seat of a vehicle with the infant facing towards the rear of the vehicle. The infant car seats are designed to hold infants measuring about 30 inches and weighing up to 30 lbs. The infant car seat devices generally have a seating surface, back wall, side walls, adjustable carrying handle and harness assembly. The shoulder straps of the harness assembly protrude through slits in the back wall of the infant car seat. Because the harness assembly protrudes through the back wall of the infant car seat, the shoulder straps of the harness assembly are necessarily located underneath the infant when occupied. Thus, when placing the infant in the infant car seat, the shoulder straps of the harness assembly must be pulled from underneath the infant before the harness assembly can be properly secured.
When the infant outgrows the infant car seat, he/she moves to a convertible car seat that will accommodate children in a forward facing position up to 40 lbs and with some models accommodating children over 50 lbs. The major difference between the infant and convertible car seat is the lack of a carrying handle on the convertible car seat. The harness assembly configuration, however, is similar to the infant car seat in a convertible car seat; the shoulder straps are located on the back wall of the seating area and must be pulled from underneath the child before the harness assembly can be properly secured. Thus, the need exists for a device to secure the shoulder straps of the harness assembly away from the back wall of the seating surface of the infant and convertible car seat so as to ease the process of loading, unloading and securing an infant/child to the car seat.
The Buckle Pals, Cling 'N Go and Handy Hooks seatbelt strap holder system are the only known products that attempts to address this need. The Cling 'N Go system consists of a seat pad, a left side strap wrap and a right side strap wrap. The seat pad attaches to the back of the infant car seat. The left and right strap wraps use a hook and loop design to hold the seat belts out of the seating area to ease loading and unloading the infant. The Handy Hooks are for use in convertible car seats and consist of moldable bands to secure to the convertible car seat and hooks to hold the seatbelt straps away from the seating area. The Handy Hooks slip up and down the length of the convertible car seat thus making it inconvenient for use. Furthermore, the Cling 'N Go system is an actual addition to the seating area of the infant car seat and may interfere with the proper performance of the car seat.
This invention overcomes the shortcomings of the Buckle Pals, Cling 'N Go system with an easier to use product that provides a safe, simple and less frustrating procedure for loading, unloading and securing an infant/child to the car seat.